Cien Temple on Tiantai Mountain

Cien Temple on Tiantai Mountain

Cien Temple on Tiantai Mountain is a cultural tourism attraction.

Cien Temple on Tiantai Mountain is located on Baiyun Mountain at the southern ridge of Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang Province, six kilometers from Tiantai County. Built against a cave, it has hosted Indian monks in seclusion since the Han Dynasty. Its exact founding date is unknown, but it has long been a place for meditation and spiritual enlightenment, commonly known as Yan’an. In the 17th year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui Dynasty (i.e., 597 AD), the guardian deity of Master Zhizhe manifested auspicious signs here, and it has now been over 1,410 years. It is said that Emperor Kangxi also once stayed here and was deeply captivated by the place. He then ordered the Taizhou prefect to draw a complete map of Tiantai Mountain to find the place from his dream and bestowed an imperial dragon robe in the cave as a memento of his stay. There is no “entrance fee,” nor will there be one in the future, and no “incense offering ticket” is charged.

According to the expansion plan of Cien Temple, in addition to traditional cave halls, the project will make full use of over 100,000 square meters of cave complexes and surrounding mountain rock faces. Using modern art techniques, it will create a three-dimensional version of the “Great Treasury of Scriptures” and numerous mandala worlds of Buddhas and deities. Over 84,000 Buddhist art sculptures in various styles—including free-standing statues, group sculptures, wall carvings, reliefs, line carvings, and murals—will fill many gaps in Buddhist history.

Here, the caves are the halls, and all halls are within caves. In the past decade or so, nearly 100,000 square meters of ancient man-made caves, previously buried almost entirely by rubble, have been discovered in this ancient stone cave temple. It is said that the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a three-year study of its main cave and found that this site will boast three “world records”: 1. The largest span of a single ancient man-made cave, 2. The largest span of a double-arched ancient man-made cave, 3. The largest total area of caves with Buddhist artistic elements.

In 1999, the late abbot of the temple, Venerable Yongci—who had come here on the anniversary of the birth of the Medicine Buddha and was nearly ninety years old—became convinced in August 2000 that beneath the main hall (located in a natural cave near the mountaintop) lay numerous ancient man-made caves. He then arranged for disciples and invited geological and other related units to enter the mountain and caves to conduct surveys, planning, and debris removal. As the work progressed, it was discovered that these ancient man-made caves beneath the natural cave were “cool in summer and warm in winter, with separate dry and wet zones and well-organized ventilation.” The caves connect to one another, with chambers within chambers, layered and crisscrossed, resembling a labyrinth-like wonderland of cave heavens.